2015 Rugby World Cup Preview: France

By Matt Findlay France equal the most ever Rugby World Cup (RWC) games played, they've never failed to pass the group stage and thrice finished runners-up, but the William Web Ellis trophy remains Les Bleus' most elusive prize. With France's quest for its first RWC win set to kick off against Italy in just over two weeks, head coach Phillipe Saint-Andre is under heavy fire after announcing a strong, but controversial 31-man squad for the 2015 tournament. Pooled in a difficult group with Six Nations champions Ireland and Italy, France will face the prospect of trying to win a RWC without one of their best players from the 2011 tournament, in which they finished second, in five-eighth Francois Trinh-Duc. The experienced first five was left out in favour of Remi Talès and veteran playmaker Frederic Michalak, who is now France's all-time point-scorer and gives Les Bleus a third goal-kicking option along with Morgan Parra and Rory Kockott. “We wanted to include three top goal-kicke
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